Today's hair conditioners almost universally comprise high levels of high melting point fatty compounds, the most common of which are C16 to C18 fatty alcohols. These high melting point fatty compounds are employed as structuring agents wherein they are combined with one or more surfactants and an aqueous carrier to form a gel network. The gel network provides a viscous and high yield point rheology which facilitates the dispensing of the conditioner from a bottle or tube and the subsequent distribution and spreading of the product through the hair by the consumer. The gel network structuring also enables incorporation of silicones, perfumes and oils in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion that is phase stable. These silicones and oils are intended to be deposited on the hair to provide the primary hair care benefits including wet and dry combing friction reduction and hair manageability etc.
This invention relates to high purity concentrated rinse-off hair care compositions with a high content of silicone and a silicone-to-high melting point fatty compound ratio of about 100:0. The composition provides consumer acceptable wet and dry conditioning feel along with good product phase stability at low viscosity (lower than about 500 cP) while remaining substantially free of a high melt fatty compound. The hair care composition can be delivered in various forms such as: aerosol foamed, mechanical (e.g. pump and squeeze) foamed, concentrated liquid, and pre-aerated foam etc.
Current gel network hair conditioners can lead to excessive co-deposits of the high melting point fatty compound on the hair over multiple cycles. Additionally, the deposited high melting point fatty compounds can build-up on hair over multiple cycles and lead to waxy build-up on hair and hair weigh down. Indeed, one of the major consumer complaints with hair conditioners is waxy residue which makes hair look greasy or feel heavy. Many current gel network hair conditioners deposit up to 10 times more high melting point fatty compounds (fatty alcohols) than silicone or oil after approximately 10 treatment cycles in technical testing. While not being bound to theory, this is hypothesized to be due to the greater than about ten times concentration of high melting point weight fatty compounds in the product relative to the silicone or oil. Importantly, such a high level of melting point fatty compounds such as fatty alcohols, is useful to produce a shelf stable gel network with sufficient structuring for consumer acceptable viscosity and rheology.
Typically, silicone conditioning agents alone do not reduce wet friction enough to provide sufficient wet feel. Therefore, there is a need to deliver consumer acceptable wet feel via a hair care composition without fatty alcohols (or gel network).
Described herein is a hair care composition that enables new product opportunities and consumer benefits by addressing the current disadvantages associated with gel network conditioners. Is has been found that concentrated and low viscosity hair conditioner compositions can be delivered to the hair in foamed form. These hair care compositions enable sufficient dosage from a foam delivery form while also minimizing the need for product stabilizing with high melting point fatty compounds or other “insoluble” structurants that can lead to significant co-deposits, build-up and weigh down of hair. The net result has been a step change improvement in silicone deposition purity versus today's rinse-off products and an improvement in technical performance benefits from such a pure and transparent deposited silicone layer. These benefits include multi-cycle hair care without hair weigh down, durable conditioning, reduced hair dye fade, and increased color vibrancy.